A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to the art of methods and apparatuses related to vehicle surface cleaning and more specifically to methods and apparatus related to windshield wipers.
B. Description of the Related Art
It is well known in the art to provide vehicles with devices commonly referred to as “windshield wipers” that are operated to clean and/or clear the front and sometimes the back window or windshield through which vehicle passengers look. Such windshield wipers are typically pivoted across a portion of the outer surface of the windshield where they clear or wipe the windshield surface to remove water, snow, ice or debris.
It is also well known to place windshield wipers in a non-use or “park” position when they are not being used. Often, the windshield wipers are positioned onto a wiper lifter, sometimes referred to as a ramp, to maintain the wiper in the parked position. Typically, placing the wiper onto the wiper lifter lifts the wiper away from the windshield and/or vehicle surface and thereby relieves unwanted pressure from the wiper.
Many know wiper lifters are formed of two parts, a relatively soft base or isolation pad (typically formed of rubber) that seals the lifter to the vehicle and a harder skid pad (typically formed of a plastic) that the wiper contacts when it is placed into the parked position. While known two part wiper lifters generally work well for their intended purpose, they have a disadvantage. In particular, when wipers are parked onto known wiper lifters a loud “thunk” or “thud” noise occurs. This noise is undesirable.
One known wiper lifter is designed to support a wiper in a park position and do so without the unwanted noise. This known wiper lifter is subject to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/341,508 which is fully incorporated herein by reference and which is owned by the assignee of this patent application. FIG. 10 illustrates this wiper lifter 1 which includes a wiper ramp 2 that has an upper surface 3 that maintains a wiper (not shown) in a parked position. An isolation pad 4 is attached to a bottom surface of the wiper ramp 2 and seals the wiper lifter 1 to a vehicle (not shown). The wiper lifter 1 also includes a wiper contact member 5 that is attached to a portion of the upper surface 3 of the wiper ramp 2 and that is used as the first part of the wiper lifter 1 that is contacted by the wiper when the wiper is moved into the parked position.
The wiper lifter 1 works well for its intended purpose. A disadvantage, however, is that the wiper lifter 1 is relatively complex and thus relatively expensive to manufacture. This is due to the fact that the wiper lifter 1 is composed of four distinct parts which are each formed of distinct materials and which require manual assembly. The first part is the wiper ramp 2 which is typically formed of a thermoplastic composite comprising glass fibers and nylon. The second part is the isolation pad 4 which is typically formed of a thermo plastic elastomer (TPE) and which is manually attached to the bottom surface of the wiper ramp 2. The wiper contact member 5 is the combination of two parts: a third part which is a foam tape and a fourth part which is a low friction protective top layer. The third and fourth parts are then manually attached to the top surface of the wiper ramp 2.
Therefore, what is needed is a wiper lifter that supports a wiper in a park position, does so without the unwanted noise and, is easier and less expensive to manufacture than known wiper lifters.